forbirnan

• forbeornan, forbyrnan, forbiernan

From Proto-West Germanic *frabrinnan. Equivalent to for- +‎ birnan.

• IPA^(key): /forˈbir.nɑn/, [forˈbirˠ.nɑn]

forbirnan

1. (intransitive) to burn (completely): burn down, burn up
   • late 10th century, Ælfric, the Old English Hexateuch, Exodus 3:2

     Mōȳsēs ġeseah þæt sēo þyrne barn and næs forburnen.

     Moses saw that the bush was burning without being consumed.

   • c. 900, translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History

     Eft ġelamp æfter tīde fæce þætte sē ilca tūn forbarn and sēo ilce ċiriċe.

     Then after a while the same town burned down again, along with the same church.

   • c. 900, translation of Orosius' History Against the Pagans

     Ethna fȳr āflēow upp swā brād and swā miċel þætte eall þā clifu þe nēah þǣre sǣ wǣron forburnon tō ascan.

     Mount Etna erupted so explosively that all the cliffs near the sea were burned to ashes.

   • The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

     Þȳ ilcan ġēare forbarn Lundenbyriġ, ⁊ on þām ilcan ġēare forðferdon tweġen ealdormenn, Æþelmǣr on Hāmtūnsċīre ⁊ Ēadwine on Sūþseaxum. ⁊ Æþelmǣres līc līð on Wintanċeastre on nīwan mynstre, ⁊ Ēadwines on þām mynstre æt Abbandūne. Þǣs ilcan ġēare forðferdon twā abbodessan on Dorsǣtum, Herelufu on Sċeaftesbyriġ ⁊ Wulfwin on Werhām.

     In the same year [982], London burned down, and in the same year, two princes passed away: Ethelmer in Hamptonshire and Edwin in Sussex. Ethemer's body lies in the new monastery in Winchester, and Edwin's in the monastery at Abingdon. In the same year, two abbesses passed away in Dorset: Herelufu in Shaftesbury and Wulfwin in Wareham.

• forbærnan
• unforburnen

• Middle English: forbrinnen, forburnen
  • English: forburn